The Pearl took 425 Highlanders (125 men, 100 women and 200 children) from the Glengarry estate to New York in 1773. The emigration was organised by three brothers John Macdonnell of Leek, Allan Macdonnell of Collachie and Alexander of Aberchalder and their cousin "Spanish John" Macdonnell of Scotus. This was a fairly wealthy party of emigrants although estimates of their worth have been based on claims of what was lost during the American revolutionary war and inflated insurance claims are not just a modern phenomenon. Although raised (quadrupled) rents were given at the time as a reason for the emigration, Marianne McLean points to the example of a Glenmoriston tenant who stayed and paid the increased rent for another ten years.

From the New York Journal, 28 October, 1773 (The discrepancy between those said to have left and those recorded as arriving may be because of the method of calculating the number of 'full passengers' at the time. The ages of children under 16 would be added and then divided by 16 to give a 'full passenger equivalent' so, if the average age of the children on the passage was around four and a half, 200 children (with 25 dead) would mean they equated to 55 full passengers.)

'Monday last, the Ship Pearl, Capt Richard Tucker, arrived here in 6 weeks and 6 days from Glasgow, with 280 Passengers many of whom appear to be genteel People of considerable Property; On the passage about 25 children died of Small Pox.'

As these emigrants were loyalists during the coming war they did not remain long in the United States and many, therefore, are more closely associated with Glengarry county in Ontario. They are recorded in this project as living the Mohawk Valley because this was their first permanent destination.

So far as we are aware, no passenger list of the Pearl is extant (although much can be inferred from Sir John Johnson's rent roll for Kingsborough) so what appears here is incomplete, drawn from different sources and to be considered a work in progress.